By Dixie Lee Mitchell, Early Childhood Coordinator, NBACL
As we look toward both the National Day of the Child,
November 20, 2013 and the annual International Day of Persons with Disabilities,
December 3, 2013, one tends to reflect on the changes, or lack thereof, that
have occurred in Canadian Communities since Canada agreed to sign the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. This Convention was the first
international human rights treaty to include explicit focus on disability.
When Canada signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities in 2009, it was thought that a stronger commitment to ensure
that children with disabilities to enjoy all human rights and fundamental
freedoms on an equal basis with other children would be the foundation of
future educational and health policies, funding programs, individual services
and supports and protection services for children, to name a few.
Early Learning and
Child Care as a Foundation of Equality and Fundamental Freedoms
Despite advances in legislation, policies and services, the
rights of children with disabilities are still not being fully realized and the
realization of the importance of the early years as a foundation to successful,
healthy and fulfilling futures for all children is still not considered the
foundation for living a healthy and productive life as an adult.
Despite the lack of legislated entitlement, Canadian early
learning and child care programs are including more children with disabilities.
There are snippets of innovative programs in every province. The quality and
quantity of inclusion has increased significantly and children with “tougher
challenges” are now being enrolled everywhere.
At the same time, we are still hearing of children who are
excluded from programs; of a parent who must quit work or school to stay home
with their child because a program does not have inclusive policies and
inclusive training to practice strategies that will continue to include all
children. We are still hearing of centres that do not have an “all are welcome”
policy and still discriminate against children of varying abilities. We are
still working within policies that limit the inclusion of children with
disabilities in ways that prevent them from achieving a level of success that
will provide them with independent living in their future and separate them
from their peers economically and socially. We still live in a country in which
every day we “duck tougher challenges” when it comes to the full inclusion and
equality of children with disabilities. Many services still rest on the hope of
discretionary funds rather than mandated funding and are vulnerable to change
each time a government changes.
This evidence of continuing discrimination against children and
thus, their families, tends to impact all of us and pressures us to question
our societal values and goals. It causes us to reflect on not only what
commitments we have made to children with disabilities, but the work yet to be
done to ensure continuing Canadian commitments.
Children in early learning and child care usually fall into
the age range of 6 months to 12 years. Currently in Canada there are 200,000
children with disabilities under the age of 15. Changes in our economic
structure and the roles of families have made early childhood education a
fundamental element in our society. The number of preschool and after-school
children being cared for in early learning and childcare, who are either
assessed with a specific developmental challenge, or whose challenges lead
educators and families to seek additional support has climbed dramatically, and
yet, in some Canadian communities, there is still failure to recognize the
importance of prior to school environments as the foundation years in life long
learning.
In Early Learning and Child Care,
educators are beginning to recognize that strengths and challenges for all
children exist on a more continuous spectrum than once believed and that only
through acknowledging the support and intervention for children prior to school
can we hope to give children an equitable “playing field” in school. The cost
of intervention and support in the early years is many times viewed as a “high
cost ticket,” however the cost to our health system; mental health system;
justice system and to educational remediation is much higher.
A commitment to inclusion in the early years fosters a
creative, problem solving approach to teaching and offers a model of teaching
as a lifetime adventure of personal growth. Challenges are viewed as a source
of connection rather than division. Inclusion in the early years can bring a
community together and provides benefits for all. We can learn a great deal
from very young children on how to do this well as they develop “caring and
sharing” habits; as they make friends and become friends to others; as they
negotiate within a group where everyone has a “voice”; as they take turns in
expressing their views using their own communication style; as they learn about
kindness, respect, and yes, even what dignity means. In the early years,
children learn to stand up for the person beside them and to help them up when
they stumble. In quality inclusive early learning and child care programs,
children learn to include naturally - it is a way of being throughout their
day.
The zest of life-long learning and its patterns of inclusion
are established in Early Childhood Education programs, prior to school
classrooms, and in outdoor environments. Research tells us that children who are included in
their early years have better outcomes for inclusion as adults - they are more likely
to continue in education, graduate from high school; attend post- secondary
education; get a paid job with remuneration above the ‘poverty line’; volunteer
in their communities; be valued in their community; and value their community.
It is no secret that early childhood education has been
undervalued in our society. However, the growing incidence of children with
assessed disabilities and additional needs is not just an education issue. It
is one of the major public health concerns of our time. Therefore the amount of
energy, time, and resources our society at large devotes to early childhood
education should be viewed as being most important.
Taking Action: What We Can Do:
1.
Bridge the divide between education and early
childhood development in order that Early Learning and Child Care and other
prior to school programs are seen as a foundation to inclusive education in
every province.
2. Develop collaborative approaches in both education and health, with disability groups, to ensure non-discrimination in accessing quality health & education supports and services.
3. Design interventions for children that reinforce positive development across their life cycle and across a range of well-being outcomes.
4. Rigorously evaluate policies and programs for children to see whether they enhance the overall well-being and positive development of children.
5. Create programs that support family needs throughout the life span of their children so as to decrease “gaps” in what families require for their children.
6. Continue to bring awareness in local, provincial and federal jurisdictions - all communities- about quality inclusive, affordable, accessible Early Learning and Child Care.
7. Form networks and partnerships with community partners to discuss and implement events for action that ensure non-discrimination in the early years that will move forward action for change in inclusive education systems within schools.
8. Value all children and invest in their futures.
